In an increasingly networked world, more and more traffic, such as data, voice, and video, is transmitted over public and proprietary networks. Wireless networks, in particular, are becoming increasingly popular as networks through which subscribers obtain both voice services (e.g., telephone calls) and data services (e.g., email and web surfing).
One class of mobile wireless devices, such as smart phones and tablet (e.g., “pad”) computing devices, may include mobile communication devices that are designed to provide additional functionality, such as the ability to execute a variety of general purpose computing applications. Video-related services, in particular, may be provided through these devices.
When providing content, such as video, over a wireless network, it may be important to intelligently deliver the content to the mobile devices to limit strain on the wireless network. One known technique for streaming video is known as multicast, in which a single channel may be used to broadcast content to multiple mobile devices. In contrast, with a unicast transmission, video streams transmitted to multiple mobile devices may require multiple channels that are each dedicated to a single mobile device.
A multicast system may include a number of multicast channels that are broadcast, over a radio interface, to interested mobile devices. For example, a content provider may make available a number of video streams, such as television streams, that may be transmitted as a multicast transmission. The content providers that are allowed to provide content, in a particular wireless network, may be selected ahead of time by the provider of the wireless network.